Jeremiah Green has given an extensive interview to podcaster Jaybo and his podcast The Shit show. Released 3 days ago, on January 27th (but recorded earlier this month), Jeremiah touches on a range of topics reaching back to the early days of the band, some personal details, the new album, and other questions that plagued the fan community over the past few years.

The interview is just under 50 minutes long, and is well worth the listen, but for those of you that don't have the time and just want the facts, here are the main things that he spoke about:

How he met Isaac Brock and Eric Judy through Sam Jayne (Lync, Love as Laughter), how they were to all start a band together, but Eric's car broke down.

How Johnny Marr joined the group, Isaac just called him up, and that his decision was largely influenced by his son being a fan of Modest Mouse. Johnny also left because during 5 months of downtime, he got restless and recorded an album with The Cribs, and then their tours conflicted. Jeremiah hopes they get to work again though.

Eric left the band to spend more time with his children, specifically to not miss watching his daughter grow up, and that while Jeremiah says it was incredibly hard for them all, they support him. Also that the door is open for him to come back, but it would not be right away, as that wouldn't be fair to Russell Higbee.

Eric left a week before the 2011 Australian tour, and that the band therefore could only play about 15 songs that tour.

They interviewed a lot of bassists before settling on Russell, and that this was a factor on the album delay. Eric was there for the writing of a lot of the songs, but the recording ended up being drawn out.

In the end Russell, Tom Peloso and Lisa Molinaro all contribute bass parts to the album, and that Jeremiah is responsible for all drumming on the album.

The Big Boi and Krist Novoselic tracks are not on the album, that there are a lot of b-sides, and that they may be released later, but the details are secret.

The band went through about 4 producers while recording this album, including Big Boi, and that this was also a factor in the huge delay. A lot of songs were re-recorded up to 3 times.

He is unsure exactly how much touring, if any other than the known dates, will be done to support the new album, but he makes it pretty clear that he's not the best person to be asking.

Listen to the complete podcast below.

Lastly, Track 14, which we reported on yesterday, has had it's title revealed through iTunes/Amazon updates as The Best Room. So hopefully we will be hearing this new track next week.

The Coachella lineup was announced last night, and Modest Mouse is set to perform on the Friday for both weekends of the festival. That's April 12 and 19. They will be performing alongside Blur, The Stone Roses, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more. This marks the band's first time ever performing at this festival.

Another interesting side note, is that Johnny Marr will also be performing on the same days, which could see him join the band on stage again. However they were in the same position in England a few years ago, where Marr was performing at the same festival with The Cribs and nothing came of it.

Either way, it's good to have some live dates on the horizon, maybe leading up to a more structured tour, or perhaps the hint that Modest Mouse will be doing the festival circuit this Spring/Summer. The band has not performed together since July last year.

Tickets go on sale this Tuesday. Watch the trailer for the festival below.

UPDATE: It's actually been pointed out that they made their debut at Coachella in 1999. Embarrassing for us! Thanks Kurt for pointing this out.

Portlandia is a television series on the Independent Film Channel (IFC), set and filmed in Portland, Oregon. It features Saturday Night Live cast member Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, of the now-defunct band Sleater-Kinney and current lead guitarist/singer for Wild Flag.

The IFC announced today that season 2 will begin airing on January 6, 2012, and that it will feature Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, as well as other guest stars Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Steve Jones from Sex Pistols, Johnny Marr of The Smiths (and formerly of Modest Mouse), Joanna Newsom, and Annie Clark (a.k.a. St. Vincent). All these musicians will be taking up temporary residence in the show's satirical and dreamy rendering of Portland, OR.

At the beginning of a recent interview with Rocksucker, guitarist Jim Fairchild briefly touches on Modest Mouse's recording progress. Specifically on the work that was recently done with Big Boi, and unfortunatly it's a little disheartening for anyone who's hoping to hear a new album any time soon:

How did the Modest Mouse sessions with Big Boi go?

I didn't go out to those sessions. They were trying out some songs with Big Boi. I'm not really sure what's going to come of that. I think Isaac's still in the process of deciding who he wants to record the record with.

So it's going to be primarily a Modest Mouse record, as opposed to some kind of collaboration?

Yeah, they were recording Modest Mouse songs out there. But I don't think Isaac knows what he wants to do with the new record yet so it's very early stages.

The rest of the article deals mainly with the recent reissue of Grandaddy's album The Sophtware Slump, his time with them, replacing Johnny Marr, and his solo project All Smiles. It's quite an interesting read, even if you're only interested in the Modest Mouse parts.

Long time Modest Mouse photographer, Pat Graham, has just released a new book entitled Instrument.

The link between musician and instrument is emotional, physical-and sometime volatile.

INSTRUMENT is a photography book that represents an intensely personal exposure by some of the world's most important and dedicated musicians. Instrument features beautifully photographed iconic instruments with thoughts, stories, and captions about them from the owners/musicians.

The book comprises over 10 years worth of Pat's work with numerous artists such as Modest Mouse, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips, R.E.M., New Order, Wire, Fugazi, Built to Spill, Band of Horses, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more. It also features a forward has been written by former Modest Mouse guitarist, Johnny Marr.

The iconic sleigh bells that can be heard The Beach Boys Good Vibrations and Phil Spector's wall of sound, The moog that created New Order's Blue Monday, The organ that gave the Special's hit Ghost town, The bass from The Pixies, The guitar played by Ian Curtis on Love Will Tear us Apart, Joy Division. Johnny Marr's Gibson that was played in the height of the Smiths. Etc Etc... All these and many more photographed by Pat Graham with captions from the musicians.

The book has just been released in the UK, but has unfortunately been pushed back in North America to late September / early October. It can be ordered through Amazon or Chronicle Books.

Modest Mouse has been confirmed for four other UK dates. Two of them are for the Leeds and Reading Festival's which seem to alternative their line-ups over the three days, meaning Modest Mouse will be on the same stage as The Cribs both days. This may allow Johnny Marr to rejoin the band for a part of their set. The rest of the dates as follows:

An article in the latest Rolling Stone magazine reveals lots of details regarding the planning of Heath Ledger's King Rat video. Isaac talks about his meetings with Ledger and the additional work that Terry Gilliam provided. He also talks about his last encounter with Ledger during a brake from shooting The Dark Knight.

Towards the end of the article, Isaac also talks about his work with the Shins' James Mercer on the 180 Degrees South documentary. It then goes on to mention that:

And the follow-up to 2007's We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank should be finished in the next six months, with the band road-testing some of the material on its current tour. "It'll take some effort," Brock says. "But that will make it more fun."

Now Modest Mouse has never been one to stick to any kind of release timeline, their albums have always been delayed, but as of today no new material has been performed on the current tour so far. Hopefully things will change before the tour is over and then this quote will make more sense.

Some people over at ModMouse.com have been able to talk to band members after some of the shows and have learned things that seem to support this. In Montreal Eric stated that the they are planning on working on a new album once this tour is over, that they are planning an east coast tour and that he doesn't think Johnny Marr will be returning.

Coupled with the fact that many of The Cribs' tour dates conflict with Modest Mouse's upcoming ones, during an interview on June 13 with the BBC when asked if he was in Modest Mouse as well as The Cribs, Johnny Marr said that:

"Modest Mouse has taken a vague hiatus, because Isaac the main guy is doing some music for a film. The thing with Modest Mouse is it's kind of a real bunch of super grown-ups. I can play with them any time I like. We live in the same town of Portland, Oregon and I probably will be popping up on a few of their records. I'm in The Cribs though. The Cribs is the band I get in a van with, go to soundchecks with and live with at the moment."

Jim Fairchild is once again expected to take second guitar duties on the upcoming tour dates.

Billboard is reporting that Jim Fairchild, of the now defunct band Grandaddy, will once again be joining Modest Mouse. He will apparently be temporarily replacing Johnny Marr, who is currently playing with The Cribs. Marr still remains a full time member of Modest Mouse.

Johnny Marr gave a telephone interview with CBC today, in which he mainly discussed how he would be handling his duties as a professor at Salford University in Manchester, a position that he was recently honored with. Johnny did however also mention, that Modest Mouse will begin working on new material, starting in February 2008. He did not say if this work would be going towards a new album or if it was for the EP that Isaac and Eric have talked about. The interview is available for download from CBC's website and starts at around 12 minutes and 30 seconds in.

The band did a short set on 2007/09/18 as part of AOL Sessions, performing "Broke," "Little Motel," "The View" and "We've Got Everything." Video of the set and the Q&A with Isaac and Johnny has noew been uploaded to their site. Thanks to Kelly at AOL Music for informing us.

The April addition of Spin magazine features these two members of Modest Mouse on the cover, making it another cover story for the band. Spin has got a short excerpt up from the upcoming article on their website. Thanks to Todd for pointing this out.